Search paused before patching, is not resuming after patching

Question

I paused my search using:

Suspend-SPEnterpriseSearchServiceApplication –Identity “Search Service”

and post patching tried to resume my search using:

Resume-SPEnterpriseSearchServiceApplication –Identity “Search Service”

...but it is failing to resume.

I did clear the config cache post reboot but still I was facing the issue.

I tried to resume it forcibly using:

$ssa = Get-SPEnterpriseSearchServiceApplication “Search Service”
$ssa.ForceResume($ssa.IsPaused())

It returns false after a long execution. I enabled verboseex logging and tried it from Central admin, it gave "Timed out errors".

How to fix it?

Ran the diagnostic script provided below and the results are:

FarmServiceInstances     Error   SharePoint Services Instances not 'Online': SearchServer
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After running the #5 queries, my diagnotic results showed like this.

Test                     Level   Headline                                                                                                                                    
----                     -----   --------                                                                                                                                     
Farm                     Info    Build Version: 15.0.4981.1002                                                                                                                
FarmAdminSyncTimerJob    Normal  'Application Server Administration Service Timer Job' is running on all Search servers                                                       
FarmCoreServiceProxies   Normal  A Service Application Proxy for each core service exists and is online                                                                       
FarmDefaultSSAProxy      Normal  'Search Service ApplicationProxy' is the default SSA Proxy in the [default] Proxy Group                                           
FarmServiceInstances     Normal  All applicable Search Service Instances are 'Online'                                                                                         
FarmSSAName              Normal  This farm has only one SSA [ Name: Search Service ]                                                                               
FarmULSLogging           Normal  ULS logging for search components set below Verbose levels                                                                                   
OSPingSearchServer       Normal  The Search server 'SearchServer' can be pinged                                                                                            
OSPingSQLServer          Normal  The SQL instance 'Alias_DBServer'  (via 'SPDBServer') can be pinged                                                                  
OSPowerPlan              Normal  All available search servers are using the 'High Performance' power plan                                                                     
OSProcessRunning         Normal  All applicable Component related processes are running                                                                                       
OSServiceRunning         Normal  All applicable OS Services are running                                                                                                       
OSVolumeProperties       Warning Index data volumes have configuration settings which do not follow recommended guidance                                                      
SRxLogSize               Normal  Log file folders current size: 0.02 MB (E:\SignedSRxCore\var\log). Tmp file folders current size: 0.00 MB (E:\SignedSRxCore\var\tmp).
SSAAdminCompSync         Normal  Primary Admin Synchronized and Online (AdminComponent1 on SearchServer)                                                                   
SSAComponentState        Normal  All Components in the Search Topology are 'Active'                                                                                           
SSAContentSourceSummary  Warning Expected SSA to have at least one Content Source                                                                                             
SSACrawlNotStuckStarting Normal  No crawls appear to be stuck in the 'Starting' state                                                                                         
SSACrawlPerformanceLevel Info    Search Service: PartlyReduced                                                                                                                
SSADatabaseSizingLimits  Normal  The Search databases meet recommended sizing and scale thresholds                                                                            
SSAEndPointAdminWeb      Normal  Each SearchAdmin.svc responds with 'OK' status                                                                                               
SSAEndPointSQSS          Normal  Each SearchService.svc responds with 'OK' status                                                                                             
SSAHasMultiAdminComps    Warning It is recommended to have multiple Admin Components in the Search Topology                                                                   
SSAIndexDiskReports      Normal  Index Components have enough estimated free disk space to perform a Master Merge                                                             
SSAIndexDocumentCount    Normal  Total searchable documents = 0 (Partition Count: 1 | Average: )                                                                              
SSAIsOnline              Normal  'Search Service' is Online                                                                                                        
SSANoServerIdMismatch    Normal  Each Search Component references a valid [SPServer] ServerId                                                                                 
SSANoTopoChangeOccurring Normal  There is no topology Activation in progress                                                                                                  
SSANotPaused             Normal  'Search Service' is not paused (Status: 0)                                                                                        
SSASchemaProperties      Normal  'Search Service' is within suggested boundaries. It has less than 50,000 Managed Properties and 500,000 Crawled Properties.

When I ran the command

$i = Get-SPServiceInstance -All | where {$_.typename -like "Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Administration"}  
$i.Status = "Online"  
$i.Update()  
$i

I got an error.

The property 'Status' cannot be found on this object. Verify that the property exists and can be set. At line:2 char:1 + $i.Status = "Online" + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation: (:) [], RuntimeException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : PropertyAssignmentException

TypeName Status Id
-------- ------ --
Microsoft SharePoint Foundati... Online 37cd6d10-37a0-4641-8078-f4727ef4086e Microsoft SharePoint Foundati... Online d566b6eb-1b53-4119-9f79-96098fb4de7b

When I open the central admin page I see this message

The search application 'Enterprise Search Service' on server SearchServer is not provisioned. Confirm that the Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Timer service and Central Administration service are running on the server.

Answer 1

Make sure all other Search-Components are up and running on the correct server:

1. Windows Services (services.msc):
   • SharePoint Administration
   • SharePoint Search Host Controller
   • SharePoint Server Search 15
2. Check if SearchService-Instance is online with Get-GPEnterpriseSearchServiceInstance
   • Resolve with Get-GPEnterpriseSearchServiceInstance | Start-GPEnterpriseSearchServiceInstance
3. Check Central Administration -> System Settings -> Manage Services on server -> Maybe SharePoint Server Search is stuck in Starting state
4. Use SRx-Core to perform an exhaustive test of your Search:
   • Download, Extract, run initSRx.ps1 to initialize
   • Perform a full test with New-SRxReport -RunAllTests -Details. Post the results in your question if you need more help.
5. From your SRx-Core Results, it looks like the Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Administration ServiceInstance has been stopped (Message: FarmServiceInstances Error SharePoint Services Instances not 'Online': SEARCHSERVERAPP1 - Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Administration : Disabled). I see two solutions:
   • Try to get it online with the following command: Get-SPServiceInstance -All | where {$_.typename -like "Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Administration"} | Start-SPServiceInstance
   • Monitor success with Get-SPServiceInstance -All | where {$_.typename -like "Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Administration"} | select typename,status
   • It is very likely you will end up stuck in status Provisioning and it won't switch to status Online
   • Now your only chance is to force it online with:

     $i = Get-SPServiceInstance -All | where {$_.typename -like "Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Administration"}  
     $i.Status = "Online"  
     $i.Update()  
     $i